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50 + 50 Milano Furniture Fair: Body reactant interface (BRI)
An interactive video interface to develop for the occasion of the 50th
Aniversary of the Milano Furniture Fair.
Caterina Tiazzoldi /GSAPP – NSU
Mirko Arcese / BBCA – consultant
The class will consist of the design of a body reactant video installation responding and transforming
visitor’s behaviors in a lounge designed in occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Furniture Fair in Milano.
Students will design a video installation having the capacity to respond to the body’s movement in space.
By starting with a given formal and material condition students will explore how video interfaces can be
developed in order to create different user reactions to create different social behaviors within ave space
frame. Students will work in small groups and develop a narrative strategy related to the type of effect they
will produce in the different areas of the lounge.
By working in a close collaboration with the Interaction designer Mirko Arcese, students will learn the
basic rules of interactive design and interface. Throughout the course, Students will develop a strategy
relating the type of experience they want to develop within the context of the Milano Furniture Fair
installation. They will define a strategy connecting visitors’ movement and the installation’s visual
response. Students will work on the basis of a spatial configuration provided by the class Site reactant
installation (SRI). They will engage the reaction between the video interface and visitor’s reaction.
Class will be organized in a series of lectures and tutorial permitting the students to achieve their task
within the time frame of the class: .
Introduction about interaction design and skills, first proposal subdivision of the space in different areas,
catalogue of situation type to be developed, proposal for the relationship existing between visitors’ input
deriving from the camera and the projector’s output. As an example such parameters can be related with
number of visitors or visitor’s location.
Students should draft a layout of the type of experience they want to develop action reaction diagram, story
board.
The final project for the class will be a group production, in which the video’s installation will be used to
respond to the following input:
1. Programmatic input: area
2. Perceptive input: type of physiological conditions to be developed in user’s perception,
such as , concentration, relaxation, acceleration, amusement, surprise, definition of visual
axes. (Image can respond to single users, to the number of users (image can play with
users: follow them, change the speed of their movements)
Perceptive input: type of physiological conditions to be developed in user’s perception,
such as , concentration, relaxation, acceleration, amusement, surprise, definition of visual
axes. (Image can respond to single users, to the number of users (image can play with
users: follow them, change the speed of their movements)
3. Community: How the design of an interface can affect social behaviors of visitors (when
the interface react only to the proximity of several people, when it react with very slow
movement imposing in this way a collective quietness.
4. Construction technique input: related with the technology available number of camera
projector and type of interface.
5. Cost input
Deliverable by groups:
Visual material to insert in the installation (video, images)
Diagram
Story board of the project
Interaction map (cause – effects list and story board of the action reaction of the relations).
3d simulation of the video installation , focusing on the perceptive mapping, 3d simulation,
and definition of the final interface.
Projections responding to people position
Tracking and projecting
The class will be developed in a strict collaboration with the class 50 + 50 Milano Furniture Fair: Site reactant
installation (SRI) taught by Caterina Tiazzoldi/ GSAPP – NSU.
NB: Final configuration can be subject of variations on the bases of the requirements of the technical staff of the Salone
del Mobile.
Caterina Tiazzoldi:
About Caterina Tiazzoldi:
Caterina tiazzoldi is the Principal of the architecture and design firm Caterina Tiazzoldi / Nuova Ordentra, Director of the
Research Lab NSU at Columbia University in New York and Visiting Researcher at the Politecnico di Torino. Nominated
at the 2008 edition of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, her work is characterized by a strong interaction between
research and practice. Her work focuses in use advanced digital tools to develop innovative spatial concept. For this
reason she participated to international events such as Torino World Design Capital, the Young Design Talent selection
by Giulio Cappellini for the Temporary Museum for New Design, Experimenta Design Lisbon, Minimaousse 4 at the Paris
Museum Cite’ de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. Her work has been published in international magazines (Domus, AMC
Interieur, Interni, Metropolis, Elle décor, Interior Design, GQ, Vanity Fair, La Stampa, Repubblica, Bespoke, Abitare blog),
books (Shops 2009,Offices Space, Contemporary Digital Architecture, ItaliArchitettura) and scientific publications (ARCC
Journal).
Mirko Arcese - Partner at BCAA.it, New Media designer/developer. He's the co-creator of "Kilykà", an innovative
interactive system actually used into digital theatre and live entertainment, involved since 2002 into Natural User Interface
developing; has been collaborating, between the others, with Nokia, Telecom.it, Vodafone, producing interactive solutions
for both online/offline media.Coach at ECAP, HyperMedia University and Omnibit about web design/development and
web interactive applications.Co-winner of DAMS MULTIMEDIA AWARD with the project "Internauti", an application able
to use the web as exchange-channel for audio/video interactivity between different places on the planet.constantly
looking for new solutions, using information technology "tools" to develop human interaction, aimed to engage users
through rich media and immersive digital experiences. http://www.bcaa.it